Garinor saw the look of terror on the prince’s face and, before anyone knew what Garinor was doing, he grabbed the bound man and dragged him toward the scepter. Tomli realized Garinor’s intention and called out in horror, but he was too late. The prince’s face was pushed against the scepter and when his skin touched it, a brilliant flash of light pierced the room.
As Garinor held him against the relic, he felt the prince’s body melt away. Like a pudding left out in the sun, the prince dripped to the floor until only his bones remained in a mangled heap. The grotesque transformation happened so quickly, Garinor fell forward and touched the scepter next.
An inner light glowed from inside the scepter and it drew Garinor’s attention completely. Close up, he could now see that countless gemstones lined the inside of the scepter. They glittered with their own inner lights and as he watched, three sets of them flared to life. The green emeralds cascaded around him. The blue sapphires enwrapped Tomli. And finally the bloody rubies drizzled down and coated the remains of the fallen prince.
Garinor realized the importance of the light. It was marking the principals of the prophecy. As this realization struck him, a booming voice shook the room and echoed into his ears fiercely. His knees buckled under the weight of that voice as it called to him from everywhere.
“Chosen One, you have come.” It sounded like a court of men and women all screaming and judging him simultaneously. He cringed as the words pounded in his ears. “You have reached the moment of destiny. And though your journey was fraught with peril, you acted nobly up until the very end.” There was a short pause. “And then at the very end your noble deeds went awry.”
“I—”
“Every action has a consequence, and you have made your choice without realizing it. This scepter requires the power of one bound to it and so the prince has given his soul so the light of truth may be expelled across the land. But not until the Chosen One reached the scepter could the light itself be released. As foreseen ages ago, your task was to choose among the others who would rule this land. What have you to say?”
Garinor trembled under the condemning Voice, but he answered clearly enough. “The prince was a foul being who killed so many trying to seek the heir. His death is justice.” He turned and looked at Tomli, who was frozen in a strange stasis with his face twisted in disgust at Garinor’s action. “Tomli would not have had him killed, but he deserved it. He really did.”
“You protest as though you seek to convince yourself. But no matter. It is your will alone that decides the fate of this land. Would you Choose the heir or the prince to live on as ruler? This futile question is asked of you only because it must be asked.”
Without hesitation, he replied, “I would choose Tomli.”
“And so the futile question has been answered.” The Voice waited a moment and Garinor cringed, wondering what was to come. “Look upon the face of the heir. With your actions, what fate awaits you now?”
Garinor looked again at Tomli and he wilted inside. There was a sense of betrayal in Tomli’s eyes, that Garinor had pushed the prince to his death without pause. He thought of all the noble things Tomli had done throughout his life, in guiding and protecting Garinor, even to seeking him out to find him along his journey. And here he had acted rashly without Tomli’s counsel. Tomli, who was the true ruler to the kingdom, should have been the one to decide the prince’s fate. Not Garinor. As he saw the pained eyes of his best friend, he realized he had made a grievous mistake.
“What can I do now?”
The Voice spoke without hesitation. “The power of the scepter must come from one bound to it,” it repeated. “One soul has been given already. And now, with scepter in hand, you have the power to alter destiny. You might surrender your soul in the other’s stead.”
Garinor considered this, wondering what he should do. He didn’t doubt the power of the scepter after seeing what it had done already. He could sacrifice his own life so the prince could live and Tomli could exact his own justice upon him. Or Garinor could keep his soul and accept the consequences that would follow.